


Journeys End

by Land_of_Domes



Series: Crossing Caroline [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: AU, Canonical Character Death, Crossover, Multi, You Have Been Warned, in the making, it's actually fluffy, obviously, sneaky crosover characters, starts before the war but doesn't end there, threesome in the making
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-15 17:09:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14794559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Land_of_Domes/pseuds/Land_of_Domes
Summary: What if Steve and Bucky met a still human Caroline back in the old days? This is their story.





	1. The One where our Duo listens to a Solo

**Author's Note:**

> It has come to my attention that there is a serious lack of crossovers for these fandoms so I've written this (mostly as a joke) to make up for it. Since this was written mostly for myself there is quite a lot of mistakes in here. But if there is any serious interest in this story I'd be happy to polish it a bit and to continue it :)

She could hear the guests clap and cheer through the thin walls, soon it would be her turn. Once the sun went down it was her job to entertain the people stepping through the doors. No matter who they were, as long as they had the money to gain entrance she would smile at them.  
Caroline put a few finishing touches on her carefully made up-do and looked into the mirror. The same light blonde hair and blue eyes that she had seen for the last 22 years were still present, so far so good. She knew that she was a looker and was quite happy about it too. Otherwise she would have never landed this job. She pinched her cheeks to try and bring the colour back in them, but no use. The latest present from “K” had drained all red from her face.

She looked at the flowers and sighed. Another day, another bouquet, another card. No name on this one either, just the elusive “K” again. She ripped it into little pieces, threw it away and stood up. She would keep the flowers, they’ve never done anything to her, and they were breathtakingly beautiful.

“Hey Caroline, your man’s back again and hes got a friend with him this time!” The cheerful voice of one of her coworkers called back to her.  
“He’s not my man!” She shouted back and smoothed out her dress one more time before she stepped out onto the small stage. Whatever would her mother say about this. She probably would roll over in her grave would she ever know that her little girl sang in a night club. But times were hard, especially so because of that damn war and Caroline was quite glad that she had a job that more or less payed the rent. Many girls were less fortunate than her. 

She stepped up to the microphone, giving her audience a dazzling smile. Her eyes involuntarily sought out the man that had appeared every friday at the club like a clockwork only to be met by clear blue eyes set in an sullen looking face.  
She began to sing.

\--------------------------------------------------  
The blonde man was uncomfortable, no other description fit him so well in this moment than that word. When he asked his friend what his plans were for the evening he did not expect to be first whined at, than blackmailed and then nothing worked on him, simply dragged away to see some girl sing. So much for spending a quiet evening at home. Not that he still wanted to be home right now, not than the angel on the stage was still gently crooning into the microphone.

“So now you stop complaining. Typical.” The amused whisper of his best friend tickled Steves ear. He shushed the other man and began to concentrate on the woman once again. She was breathtaking in a way none of the other singers had been before her, and still managed to appear perfectly lady like, a feat not small in a club like “The Viscious Circle”. Steve still felt his heart pound from the one small moment that their eyes had met and she had looked at him the way every man wants to be looked at by a beautiful woman. But that part must have been his imagination. She obviously was on the look out for Bucky, even though his friend told him that she wouldn’t even give him the time of the day. 

The woman now began to gently sway to the music while she crooned into the microphone. Steves fingers twitched with the need to draw her. Usually Bucky filled most of his pages but the man wanted to capture the woman’s very essence on the paper. He swept his eyes over the audience and noticed that they were all quite taken with her as well. When he looked at a man with curly blond hair, sitting at one of the better tables he felt himself shudder with a bad feeling but quickly dismissed it to look at the woman once again.

“Her name is Caroline.” His friend whispered velvety into his ear.  
“Caroline..” Steve repeated in a soft voice and listened to the blonde beauty sing on stage while imagining all the ways he could draw her if he ever got the chance. 

The young woman slightly bowed and smiled when she finally left the stage, a rousing applause following her with his flatmate being one of the loudest applauding her.

Bucky smirked at his friends antics. It was obvious that Steve was just as enchanted by Caroline as he himself was. Too bad that she was an ice queen and would probably be just as frosty towards Steve as she was towards him. Still he planned to introduce them to each other, if he himself can’t win her over then at least he wanted to share his pain with Steve. 

He grabbed the struggling blonds arm and dragged him towards the door where the girls usually changed. “Buck, I really don't think we should do this.”, the blond murmured while fixing his hair nervously. Bucky smiled at him, throwing one arm around his friends shoulders. “Ah come on, Stevie. I've done this a couple of times, besides I'm pretty sure a dame like her shouldn't be walking home alone at this time of the night.”

 _Especially with an audience full of wolves he thought_ , not that he himself wasn’t one, but at least he could control himself...most times. Now standing in front of the door they only had to wait till the woman herself appeared. 

His eyes lit up when she finally stepped through the door in a simple dress. Of course he liked her in the tight costumes she appeared in on stage but in his opinion she looked the most beautiful when she left it. Sparkling eyes, disheveled hair and her cheeks flushed with excitement. Simply gorgeous. Now though her sparkling eyes rolled up to the heavens when she saw him waiting for her as usually.

\--------------------------------

Caroline rolled her eyes when she saw that they were already waiting for her when she finished changing. She forced herself to not just ignore the brunet man like usually, since he brought another human being with him and she didn’t want to lash out at the poor soul who was actually friends with an idiot like him.  
“Mr. Barnes,” She said in an friendly but forced tone,”What a...pleasure it is to see you yet again this evening. I didn’t dare to hope that you would be here tonight.” The small, blond man in front of her winced at her words dripping with sarcasm while his companion only laughed and darted forward to kiss her hand.  
“Ah Miss Forbes, how could I ever miss one of your performances, especially since it was the first time I could actually drag Stevie here with me.” 

She began to wipe her hand off on her skirt in a not subtle at all kind of way while she eyed the shorter man who had yet to speak. She took note of how his bright blue eyes carefully seemed to take in her face and the way his ink splattered fingers slightly twitched with nervousness. Slowly a smile grew on her face.  
“I hope you enjoyed the show then. I am Caroline Forbes.”  
She raised her arm to shake his hand.  
\-------------------------------

Even through his layers of clothes Steve felt the heat of Buckys hand like a branding iron on his shoulder, breathing deeply through his nose just once he took the offered hand and shook it lightly. 

“I certainly did, Miss Forbes. You were- I-. It was really good. But you must hear that quite often” He said and slightly blushed when he noticed the amused glint in her eyes.  
“I do actually, but never in such a honest manner,” She said and side eyed Bucky who looked at them both with an unreadable expression. 

Steve didn’t know what to make of the woman standing in front of him. Experience taught him that at this point she should have ignored him completely and instead gone to a secluded place with Bucky, with him standing guard of course. But she didn’t even adress his friend once after the initial greeting, instead her eyes were focused on him the entire time… a thrill he usually only experienced when Bucky couldn’t find a dame to brighten up his evening. But to possess her attention completely in a room full of others... Well that was quite something. 

Steve suddenly noticed that he still hadn’t released her hand through all of his musings and quickly dropped it. “Ah sorry Miss I was just taken aback by the-” think think think “architecture of the building it’s quite unusual for this part of the City isn’t it?” She smiled at him.  
“The original owner build it for his mistress who was fascinated by the italian culture. It’s quite gaudy, don’t you think? You still haven’t told me your name, by the way. ” 

\-----------------------

This was not how he had planned this evening. The plan was to get Steve to leave the house and his shell and have a bit of a good time with his friend while trying to get Caroline to melt. Now he was once again walking a few feet behind said lady who actually had taken Steves arm when he offered. And on top of that they were still babbling the night away. They didn’t stick to architecture for long- Steve didn’t know that much about it anyway, they seemed to agree on many things and the ones they didn’t, they playfully argued over. He scowled and kicked a few pebbles in the general direction of the pair. 

The moon illuminated the streets with its silver light and the people that crossed their path seemed to be nothing more but silhouettes, with their low hung faces cloaked in shadows. To distract himself from the disappointment in front of him he began to imagine stories and facts for the shadow people. The thin one with the fat dog cheated on his wife with his secretary...the two giggling women were actually lovers and not friends...the somber looking man with the curls was actually a werewolf looking for his next prey… 

He should have been pleased that a woman was finally interested enough in Stevie that she didn’t outright reject him. Of course Bucky knew that Steve was nothing else but a catch, and would move mountains to please his partner, but his opinion didn’t count, he thought bitterly. He was also quite miffed with Caroline since she ignored his existence any time of the day but was now all buddy buddy with Steve after one evening. So when he heard the laughter coming from the pair as they stopped in front of Carolines building he felt nothing else but jealousy.

\---------------------

“He wouldn’t have spent so much time on you if he wasn’t serious, you know. I’ve never seen him like this and I think he’s really into you,” the blond at her side said and Caroline glanced back at the scowling man behind her and furrowed her brow. She didn’t expect the easy banter that they’ve fallen into and was actually quite charmed by the man who didn’t even once tried to obnoxiously flirt with her like his companion had every other evening. After a long work day of men panting after her, and her boss on constant watch in case she slipped up, she only wanted to relax and throw caution to the wind. Which was obviously not possible when the flirtatious man behind her insisted on bringing her home every time he caught her. 

She ignored Steves words.  
“I certainly didn’t expect it...but it has been a nice evening,” she slid away from his arm and turned around, her skirt twirling around her thighs. The boys seemed to be taken aback by her sudden change in mood.  
“And I really think you ought to call me Caroline,” she quickly pulled the flabber gasted Steve into an one armed hug and opened the door.  
“For you it’s still Miss Forbes,” she called back and softened the harsh words with a teasing smile, Bucky only produced a mocking half bow towards her and smiled back.  
“Good night, Caroline.”

\--------------------------------

“So, what do you think?”  
“She seems nice…”  
“Nice? That’s all? You two seemed to be getting quite cozy.”  
“You do know that you could have walked next to us. I don’t think she would have minded.”  
“Oh believe me, pal, she would have.”  
“She did seem to have something against you. What did you do to her?”  
“Why does it always have to be me- alright alright. Maybe just maybe I’ve come on too strong when I first met her.”  
“Oh really, that never happened before.”  
“Yeah yeah, ash over my head. I think I’ll go next week as well since she started to thaw. You wanna come? ”  
“Count me in.”


	2. A Gentleman among Wolves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided to upload the next chapter right away because why not :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are even more hidden crossover characters from here on I'm afraid. As usually, I hope you enjoy!

Carolines back hurt. Barbara had decided to move closer to her adoptive father again, so he wouldn’t feel so lonely after his second son died in a freak accident, and had asked all of her friends to help her move since her other siblings were busy. Because of her brash demeanor Barbara admittedly didn’t have many friends so that meant quite a bit of work. Carolines back and feet hurt and her actual work didn’t even start yet. She sighed, this was going to be a long day. Hopefully filled with not so much annoyances as usually. She sighed once more and opened the back door of “The Circle”. 

10 more minutes and Carolines waitress shift would end and her shift on stage would start. She wrote down another order and manouvered her way around the many tables when she suddenly felt a hand on her rear end. She slapped it away, kept on walking and silently promised herself that she’d tell the chef to mix something special into that guests order. Men were so obnoxious. Especially when they felt they were entitled to something only because they gave you tips. Finally stopping at the bar she put her tablet down and asked the barkeeper for a glass of water. She turned her body a little bit when she felt a gentle touch on her forearm. 

“Good evening, Miss Forbes.” A smooth voice said next to her and she supressed the smile growing on her face. “Mr. Barnes, all alone tonight?” She turned completely towards him.  
“Unfortunately, Steve had a work thing coming up. He sends you his regards,” he said and smiled at her.  
“You made quite a murderous face right now. Somethin’ happen?” 

There was no way he didn't see what happened and so she chose to ignore that question, sipping on the water the barkeeper gave her instead.  
“You know guys like him are the reason I’d rather walk you home, instead of letting you leave on your own. “

“You do realise that I’m perfectly able to handle myself?” She put her glass down.  
“Oh I don’t doubt it, but since we somehow by pure luck always manage to leave at the same time, I can reassure myself that you make it home in one piece,” he said and winked at her.  
“By pure luck…” She repeated in a disbelieving voice.  
“I would find no peace of mind if I left  
you to the wolves…”  
She averted her eyes when she saw the sincere expression on his face.

\---------------------

He did mean what he said. Caroline was a beautiful woman and many men would use any opportunity, forced or not, to get closer to her. He should know since he was one of them. She seemed startled by his admission and refused to meet his eyes. “I have to go and change now…” She tried to walk away but he grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her back. “Break a leg, Miss Forbes,” he let go of her and was pleased to see her smile again.  
“Expressions like that only exist for those who need  
them,” she said in a faux arrogant voice and went to the changing rooms.  
He smiled into his drink and watched her walk away. He may be a gentleman, but surely no saint. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and had to shiver with the impulse that someone was watching him. 

The crowd began to cheer and Bucky quickly dismissed the feeling and turned towards the stage only to almost choke on his drink. Caroline wore a bright red dress that was more form fitting than any of the other clothes he’s ever seen her in before, it flared around the swell of her hips and highlighted her slim waist and bright complexion. The room suddenly seemed to be several degrees hotter. It was clear from the wolf whistles around him that he wasn’t the only one affected by her. He tugged his collar slightly away from his neck and swallowed heavily.  
Bucky chose to ignore the people around him and concentrated solely on the woman on the stage.  
_Yeah, I’ll definitely walk her home._

\------------------------

Caroline didn’t know what came over her. Her mother did always say dress to impress but she surely didn’t mean this. She never even considered the red dress before but tonight it felt right to put it on. The blonde woman didn’t want to think of the implications of these thoughts and who exactly she wanted to impress so she quickly changed into her normal clothes and stepped, without even thinking about it, through the back door out into the cold night. 

In a strange mood she already had walked a few metres when she heard the voice call out behind her. _Anything but him tonight, _she thought still quite shaken by the response she got from the audience, the always present ominous flowers in the changing room, and her own thoughts.__  
“Miss Forbes! You didn’t think you could evade me so easily after a show like that,” she didn’t slow down, nor did she look at him and he grew worried when he saw the erratic way she clutched her purse.  
“No I didn’t actually...I- let’s just walk,”  
He grew somber and quickly caught up to her, matching his steps to her quick strides.  
“ If something happened...I don’t actually mind to walk behind you if you want me to, the view after all is spectacular.” Caroline tried to smile but only managed a grimace.  
“Are you sure you wouldn’t mind? I really need to be alone right now…”  
He slowed down without any further comment till he was walking a few feet behind her again.

\-------------------  
He was officially worried now. Not only did she take the back door, but she also obviously forgot to put on her usual cold demeanor. He checked his clock to see if Stevie was finally free now, only to freeze. In the small moment he had dared to look away from Caroline some man had managed to get close to her and grab her wrist, seemingly trying to drag her into a dark alleyway. A white veil of anger descended over him and he ran towards them, prepared to box the other down then he saw Caroline raise her knee and the other man go down. As he stopped in front of them he saw the petite blonde woman smugly smiling at him. Involuntarily he had to wince.

“I told you I can take care of myself.” She began to walk again, her mood seemingly lifted. Stupefied he followed her.

“Now I feel like you should accompany me home. You know a lot of things can happen to a dashingly handsome man like me on dark and lonesome streets like these,” he said and pretended to hide behind her. She only laughed.

“Dashingly handsome, hmm?” Bucky placed his hands on his chest as if she deeply wounded him.

“Why Miss Forbes, my self-esteem may never recover,” he said in a dry tone and, since she obviously was more receptive to him this evening, actually offered her his arm, which she of course ignored and instead began to hum a low tune he recognised from one of her shows.

“You know, I think it might make sense for you to call me Caroline after all. I have a feeling that I won’t get rid of you so easily.” She already was walking in front of him again before he could even begin to crow triumphantly at her.

__

__“And bring Steve with you the next time.”_ _

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read till here thank you very much. You're the reason why I'm writing! You can find me on tumblr as tjada-sees-the-world-go-round where I post all my imagines and fics first and on the kpop hellhole my twitter has become as Rome_has_spoken. Feel free to talk to me!


	3. Interlude: Bragging rights

“Why are you grinning like that.”

“Like what?”

“It makes me want to punch you...wait. You’ve been at the bar!” 

“So what, I visit many bars.”

“You were with Caroline.”

“Well I can’t deny that. Oh Stevie, you really missed something tonight. On second thought, I’m glad that you weren’t there. I wouldn’t have wanted to mop up your drool.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? What did I miss?! Buck!”


	4. Closer to...?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're going Stevolucky folks

Breakfast the next day was a rather solemn affair. Their landlord had just given them the eviction or pay option. Or no option at all since they could never in a million years bring up the money to pay the rent anymore. 

“So...we have to move out in one week, huh,” Steve murmured and began to draw little circles and loops onto their tiny table with his finger.  
Bucky only sighed. 

“Living expenses rise every year...soon even the rats won’t be able to find a place in this city.” He laughed and bumped his knee against Steves.  
“It won’t be easy finding an affordable place on such short notice,” Steve said and furrowed his brows.  
“Don’t worry Stevie, we’ll find something...want me to cheer you up?” He grinned at his friend and Steve started to blush against his will.  
“No thanks, your methods of cheering someone up are questionable at best.” 

“Well then I won’t tell you that you were deeply missed last night,” Bucky said in a nonchalant voice, suppressing his smile when Steve perked up.  
“Why, what did she say?” He asked in an eager tone.  
“Oh you know since my methods are questionable at best I can’t possibly tell you what she said and didn’t say.”  
“Buck!”  
“Alright, alright she asked where you were and explicitly told me that I should bring you with me the next time. What she didn’t have to say was that she was quite disappointed that you weren’t there,” Steve began to slightly drum his fingers on the table in excitement.  
“How do you know that she was disappointed?” He asked with a serious face.  
“Her eyes told me everything I needed to know.” He reveled in his smaller friends glow.

“And by the way, doing our stroll the other evening I did notice a few empty flats. You could say that the location is….perfect.” 

\------------

Caroline was going mental. No other explanation was possible. She never experienced hallucinations before but she was a 100 % sure that this was it. In the last days she had seen Steve and Bucky absolutely everywhere. In the morning when she looked out the window they were on the other side of the street obviously going to work, midday she sometimes fleetingly saw Steve in the shops, and of course in the evenings when they walked her home. Which occurred more often now than before her obvious mental break down. Even if they weren’t in the “Circle”, one, or sometimes both, of them always waited at the back door ready to walk her home.

The first time one of them noticed her noticing them was pretty unspectacular. On that day her shift started in the evening so she decided to go to the shops and hopefully get a few not too bad looking vegetables and fruits which she could afford. When she left the store she was actually quite happy with the outcome and didn’t particularly look where she was going. So of course she ran into Steve. More like barreled into him to be honest. They both stumbled a bit trying to keep their balance, Steve even having to put one of his hands on her shoulder to not fall over. Of course he ripped it away as if she burnt him the moment they both stood upright. Caroline rolled her eyes. Men were so dramatic.

“I’m so sorry Miss Forbes, I really didn’t see you coming, do you still have your bag?” He began to ramble talk and looked to the ground in case she had dropped something.  
“No it was actually my fault and I thought I asked you to call me Caroline,” she said in a dry voice and looked at him.

He looked good today, she noticed, healthy even with his flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes and wondered, if she caused his apparent delight.  
“Say Steve...you’ve been around here a lot, funny since I never actually saw you around here before,” she didn’t even get to ask her question since Steve almost ripped her bag out of her hands and half-shouted at her,  
“You know this is quite heavy, I think I should carry your bag for you, just to make it up to you. A beautiful day isn’t it, Miss Forbes?” 

Caroline narrowed her eyes at Steve and begrudgingly followed him to her building since there was no not too embarrassing way she could wrestle the bag away from him.  
She didn’t want to admit that she didn’t particularly mind Steve carrying her bags for her.

Of course it was only a matter of time till Caroline found out. Luckily the full fall out of that revelation was subdued because they were in the kind of company that didn’t allow her to express her feelings on that matter in her typical lovely way. Namely, in that of an old lady. Bucky was quite glad it came out like that since he had a feeling that this conversation could have gone very different. Instead he winced at Carolines thinly sugar coated insults and sipped his tea in the living room of his land lady, Mrs. Jenkins.

“It’s so lovely to have such helpful young men in the house, now. And such handsome ones too,” old Mrs. Jenkins said and playfully tried to pinch his cheek, which Bucky of course evaded. His dignity could only take so much, after all.  
“Not that you haven’t been a help, my dear,” she turned to Caroline. “But there is only so much us women can do and you need to all your energy for your work. How did you three meet by the way?” Steve spluttered and set his cup down, Bucky was speechless for once and Caroline, already used to the old womans rapid change of topics, only sipped her tea in a dignified manner.

“Well I suppose, I don’t really need to know. Noisiness comes with age, I’m afraid. My late husband always said that old noisy hags are the worst thing imaginable, god bless him, at least he doesn’t have to endure this dreadful war. But where is my mind you three do not want to hear an old woman babbling off like this,” Bucky slowly began to wonder if their landlady even needed to breath since her mouth was constantly moving, dominating the whole table with her talk.

“Come to think of it you three are in the right age to marry, aren’t you? Especially with that dreadful war looming over us one might never know when it’s too late. My dear Caroline here surely has her hands full with admirers, she is the kind of girl that could make a honest man out of anyone, don’t you think?” Bucky narrowed his eyes at that blatantly obvious comment. The old hag was trying to set them up. 

“By the way what happened to that awfully good looking chap, what was his name again, you know the one that helped you move in?” Immediately Caroline was on the receiving end of two very intense blue-eyed stares and the twinkly side eye of her landlady that seemed to say that she should just leave it to her and she’d be married in a month. She took another sip of her tea.  
“You mean Richard Grayson. He was one of the first to get drafted I’m afraid, even though his father tried everything to keep him home but he wanted to fight for his country.” 

He was also secretly engaged to his step sister but nobody needed to know that before he could safely return from the front and actually ask their father. 

“He’s the brother I always wanted to have. He’s a good guy….he- he stood by me in a very dark time of my life.” Caroline said in a low voice and placed her cup on the table. 

Two pairs of blue eyes met, seemingly satisfied with the information they lost a bit of their intensity, but nevertheless carefully stored it away for later use should the other man ever appear again, in conversation or any other form.

After a long line of inquiries and observations that made the three of them blush, stutter and speechless old Mrs Jenkins finally let them leave with a parting command of “walk dear Caroline home or else”, and so they did. Steve dreaded the conversation following their little tea party more than old Mrs Jenkins inappropriate comments themselves and was pleasantly surprised then Caroline didn’t transform into a vengeful harpy, ready strike his friend down, and instead filled the little walk with her chatter. She was apparently well known in their small neighbourhood since she greeted people left and right and even stopped for a few minutes to talk with a lively young shop girl that gave them the side eye the entire time. When she separated herself from her friend Bucky dared to call her out.

“Not that I’m not glad for you not ignoring me like usually, but you’ve been surprisingly docile with this situation,” the brunet at his side threw in and Steve mentally tried to punch him for disturbing the peace treaty. 

“Believe it or not but I am not totally estranged to the economic situation in this city, this is one of the last good and, more importantly, affordable neighbourhoods. I don’t blame you if that is what you’re asking.” The young woman spoke in a dry voice and slightly shivered when the wind blew around her.

“And besides, I already had a feeling that I won’t get rid of you two so easily.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on tumblr as tjada-sees-the-world-go-round where I post all my imagines and fics first and on the kpop hellhole my twitter has become as Rome_has_spoken. Feel free to talk to me! Thank you for reading!


	5. Interlude: Girlstalk

“Nothin’ new huh. You’re still singing, ‘K’ is still doing his creepy flower thing and nothing else happened in your life since the last time we saw each other.” 

“So?”

“The two men I saw you with the other day…Steve and Bucky huh? The ones we talked about?” 

“Spit it out, Barbara.”

“Oh nothing, they seemed nice that is all.” 

“Oh really.”

“Yes and you know, as your honorary older sister I really think I ought to meet them.”

“You’re younger than me by one year.”

“That wasn’t a no.”

“It’s not a yes either….maybe...but only if you behave!”

“Don’t I ever, darling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I love Barbara. The next big chapter is coming soon folks...


	6. Interlude: Learning by doing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I just can't stop with the interludes! Next chapter is a real one I promise!

“So you’re saying that you don’t want to dance with her? Excuse me when I find that hard to believe, pal.” Bucky said and insistently pulled on Steves hand.   
“I never said that I don’t want to dance with her...just that it’s probably not gonna happen,” Steve replied in a sullen voice but stood up nevertheless when his friend didn’t stop his act, stepping in front of him. 

“So in the very probable case this does happen, and I have a feeling it’s gonna be sooner rather than later, you should know how to dance.” Without allowing any further protest, Bucky put Steves right hand on his hip and his left hand in his slightly larger one.   
“Well punk, this’ll be the only occasion I allow you to lead, so you’ll better make it good for me.”  
The blond man could feel his blush starting to wander from his cheeks towards his neck, where it would eventually spread over his chest and he, once again, cursed his light complexion. 

To an outsider it would have been quite a bizarre picture, a small, skinny man trying to lead a significantly taller one into an awkward dance, but to Steve there was nothing bizarre about it. Standing so close to Bucky that their chests almost touched felt nothing but right. Well right and slightly awkward, since it became apparent that he had two left feet. If it was because of an inborn disability or the close proximity to the man in front of him that made him stumble so often was not quite clear, but then Bucky finally let go of his hand to almost fall on the floor while laughing, Steves skin burned everywhere they had touched, and he just knew that he had turned a deep scarlet red.

“Oh Stevie, I hope you have better luck with someone of your own height, but don’t worry, I’ll wait till we’re outside of the club till I laugh and point, since I’m a good friend like that.” 

Without really thinking about it Steve softly kicked the brunet laying on the ground in the shin, only to have his ankles pulled out under him and land in a slight choke hold. Which promptly made him elbow his jerk friend back into his face. The wrestling that broke out after the dancing was neither fair nor pretty even though it was clear that both men didn't really mean to hurt each other.

**Author's Note:**

> What do you guys think? Comments are always appreciated :) You can find me on tumblr as tjada-sees-the-world-go-round where I post all my imagines and fics first and on the kpop hellhole my twitter has become as Rome_has_spoken. Feel free to talk to me!


End file.
